Mission & Values

To build empathy and foster a feeling of shared responsibility.

WHAT WE DO

Dragons offers small group, custom-crafted travel programs in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Participants are led by the best educators in the industry in order to develop an understanding of critical global issues through immersive travel, meaningful engagement, and empowered leadership. Our goal: to build empathy and foster a feeling of shared responsibility for our collective future.

We employ our program components as the tools to break this mission down into actionable pieces. We specially emphasize and value language study and homestays for their essential roles in opening doors to experiences in which participants can connect, listen, and understand.

From program start to end date, we employ leadership models that empower self-directed learning. Our courses aim to help people clarify their own values, and address the individualized question of how to embody those values in the world.

WE BELIEVE

We believe future leaders will need to think beyond borders to cultivate a more inclusive, collaborative, and just future. We believe in the power of storytelling and that a personal account will be most impactful when heard in the voice, language, and perspective of a host mother, a community elder, a spiritual leader, or a local mentor. As educators, we address fundamental questions around human nature and our responsibility as engaged human beings in a fragile and complex natural and socio-economic landscape.

We also believe it’s harmful to neglect the ethics of travel. We believe responsible travel is environmentally conscientious, culturally self-aware, and focused on developing mutually meaningful connections with local communities.

We ask our participants to adapt to the places we travel, rather than asking those places to adapt to our expectations. We believe this approach generates reciprocal relationships, full of respect and appreciation. We hope to see participants foster connections with people and places that last beyond the course conclusion.

WE ARE ALL STUDENTS

As experiential educators, we recognize the value of getting dirty for the sake of discovery. We are excited to explore the road less-travelled and intrigued by the questions encountered along the way. As we journey, we ask reflective questions about who we are, where we come from, and how perspectives and power dynamics weave us together. We support our participants as they lean into challenge. And as instructors, we ask ourselves, at every turn, how we can be better teachers and more compassionate human beings. We partner with participants in a process of discovery.

And while we’re serious about what we do, we also don’t take ourselves too seriously: we recognize the value of unstructured play and downtime—be that a frisbee tossed across the Himalayan lowlands or floating over a techni-colored coral reef in Indonesia. Ultimately, we believe that more than photos, it’s the perspective shifts earned from critical reflection that we take home to embody, cherish, and share.